Week 12 Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- Tiger Woods huddled with his best public relations and legal team and decided that no one needs to know what happened when he crashed his Escalade into a fire hydrant and tree at 2:30 in the morning. And legally, he doesn’t have to tell anyone. Everyone knows there is more to the story than what’s been reported, but Woods has no intention of sharing. It doesn’t seem logical that a car accident that didn’t cause the airbags to deploy, and only caused an estimated $5-8k in damages would be enough to cause injuries to Tiger’s face and cause him to be drifting in and out of consciousness when the police arrived. But Tiger and his team are hoping the media storm blows over and he never has to talk about whether he was having an affair with Rachel Uchitel, or whether there was a domestic dispute with his wife Elin, or whether he was drunk when he crashed. And why did Elin have to break the REAR window to get Tiger out of the car? And why did she have a golf club with her? If she went back to get the club, couldn’t she just get her keys to unlock the car doors (assuming they were locked)? Too many questions that point away from a simple, “I went out for a leisurely drive at 2:30 in the morning on Thanksgiving and ran over a fire hydrant and hit a tree.”

- The Heisman race is still completely wide open, and no one seems to want to run away with it. Colt McCoy of Texas made a strong statement on Thanksgiving night with 300 yards and 4 TDs, but Tim Tebow put up 5 TDs on his own Saturday in his final home game. Stanford’s Toby Gerhart, a guy who seems to be “John Riggins 2.0”, ran for 200 yards and 3 TDs against Notre Dame, and Clemson’s CJ Spiller returned the opening kick for a TD against South Carolina. Alabama’s Mark Ingraham is the only name that anyone knows on Alabama, so he appears to be a candidate, but he was completely shut down against Auburn, likely costing him a real shot. Spiller is the most talented of the contenders, Tebow is the media crush, McCoy would get it for career achievement, and Gerhart is the late addition flash in the pan. I think McCoy deserves to win, completing nearly 72% of his passes this year, with 27 TDs against 9 INTs. And he added 175 yards rushing on Thursday, just to show Tebow isn’t the only QB with capable feet.

- Brett Favre is now the leader in the race for the MVP. He is playing the best he has ever played in his entire career, and with the weapons he has, he is playing smart, exact, and accurate football. I will now go ask someone on the street to kick me in the junk repeatedly for the next hour……..wait, most of the people wrapped up in carpet lining and smelling like urine outside the subway might take me up on the offer.

- So with Kurt Warner sitting out after another concussion, we had a rematch of the starting quarterbacks in the 2006 Rose Bowl, Matt Leinart and Vince Young. And just like that unbelievable Rose Bowl game, Vince Young came out victorious after some late game heroics, this time hitting Kenny Brit for a touchdown on 4th down with less than 5 seconds left in the game. The biggest difference between this game and 2006 was Young’s passing skills, as he threw for 387 yards on Sunday. Hopefully he didn’t decide to party like he did after the Rose Bowl, shirtless and with a bottle of tequila.

And a side note, why was Chris Johnson so ineffective during the first 6 games of the year? He’s on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record, but only broke 100 yards in 2 of the first 6 games. It doesn’t make sense because you would think with Vince Young at QB, teams would load the box more, with less fear of the passing game. But the opposite has happened, and Johnson has rushed for over 130 yards in each of Young’s starts, 5 straight wins for the Titans.

- Love this tribute to Matthew Stafford, which was obviously made before he wet himself against Green Bay on Thanksgiving, allowing Charles Woodson to put a stranglehold on the defensive player of the year award.

HATE

- I hate the current structure and situation where the college coaches are fired and hired between the end of the regular season and their bowl games. I understand it is because of the recruiting schedule and you want to have your new coach in place as soon as possible to get ahead immediately when the high school kids can be contacted. But it just doesn’t seem right that the current undefeated Cincinnati team has to deal with the distraction of Chip Kelley leaving (potentially) their team to coach Notre Dame. If and when Weis is fired at Notre Dame, the Irish will want to immediately replace him, possibly with Kelley, and they will want him to immediately start recruiting for the Golden Domers, meaning he will have to treat his team like Richard Jefferson treated his fiancé Keisha Ni’cole Nichols.

- The Steelers Dennis Dixon played well during his first NFL start, considering he had only thrown 1 pass in his career and didn’t find out until Saturday that he was going to start. But unfortunately, it was his only mistake of the game, an overtime interception, that cost his team the game against the Ravens. Is there any other rivalry in the NFL where you know exactly what you’re going to get from the game? Steelers-Ravens is going to be a hard-hitting, low scoring game that comes down to a field goal every time.

- I’m done with the Jaguars. Two trips out west this year against average to bad teams (49ers & Seahawks), and they lose both, being outscored 61-3. That is a joke and they are the worst team with a winning record in the league. Time to start looking at drafting a new quarterback to replace David Garrard.

- Really Andy Reid? Starting the game against a 3-7 Redskins team with an onside kick? What were you possibly thinking? Why would you allow a team that stinks and knows they are undermanned to get some momentum and believe they have a chance to win? Just another example of why Andy Reid is not capable of winning big games. Maybe he was still on a sugar high from the dozen donuts he had for breakfast and wasn’t thinking clearly. What a terrible decision, yet because his team was able to squeak out a win against a bad Washington team, there won’t be any focus on another brain fart from the round mound of coaching.

- Pete Carroll, you are a douchebag. You whined “what’s your deal?” after Stanford stuck it to you with a 2 point conversion after their 7th touchdown. Then you go and throw deep for a 48 yard touchdown in the final minute of a blowout against UCLA, and claim that you were just “competing” for the entire game. Time to roll that stupid turtleneck you wear up over your face to keep you from saying anything else so stupid (who’s your fashion consultant, an 80’s movie star?). Then again, since your Trojans are completely irrelevant this season, I guess you have to do something to make people remember USC is still playing out the string of meaningless games.

- The Nets. 0-17. Ouch. Yeah, fire the coach. THAT must be the problem……oh wait, they didn’t exactly come out firing for their new coach, trailing Kobe Bryant 13-12 at the end of the first quarter. Yes, Kobe by himself, not counting the rest of his team’s points. The Nets tied the NBA record for longest losing streak to start the season, and seem destined to break it with the Mavs in their next game. Pretty sure the Nets and Knicks with their combined 3 wins are not exactly making LeBron James pine for playing with either of these teams next year.

Week 11 Hangover - Love/Hate

This week we're leading off with the hates........no real reason. It's my site, I'm in charge.

HATE

- It’s a known fact that Syracuse basketball plays great at Madison Square Garden in NY. Well I went there Friday night to watch the Orange dismantle the UNC Tar Heels in the 2K Sports Championship. And their fans are something to behold, with the majority of them having the physical attributes of two of the school’s famous point guards of the past: the face of Jerry McNamara (balding, whispy attempt at a goatee) and the body of Sherman Douglas (round – as wide as they are tall). Short, fat, awkward fans wearing their orange jerseys over button-down shirts, or over nothing at all, but ALWAYS complimented by a fat gold chain. And those are just the women. I’ve never been there, but based on their fans on Friday, I would assume that Syracuse’s campus is on wheels, double-wide, and could be hooked up to a large truck to tour the country.

- Despite the Bengals crapping themselves against the Raiders, these are not the “same old Bengals” that always find a way to lose. Thanks to the rest of their division losing, they didn’t give up any ground and are still in a position of strength. Losing without Cedric Benson after a horrific fumble in the last 40 seconds on a kickoff after giving up the tying touchdown is a terrible loss, but not crippling to the season. They get the Lions and Browns in the next two weeks, so they immediately have a chance to blow out an inferior opponent and prove it was a blip, not a pattern. The Raiders have continued to play hard for Tom Cable despite having a QB who couldn’t throw and an WR who can’t catch. What a difference replacing a joke in JaMarcus Russell with a below average option in Bruce Gradkowski makes.

- Can someone please explain the appeal of Lady Gaga? I really don’t get it. She’s a hideous freak with minimal talents. Oh, and her music stinks too. I don’t get her whole schtick of wearing outrageous outfits and acting like an idiot. I mean, why wouldn’t the American Music Awards spend more time showing Carrie Underwood? Or Mary J. Blige? Or anyone else for that matter? And yet for some reason, Gaga is all over the place and gets accolades within the music community, but she terrifies me and I have to immediately change the channel if her freaky mugg crosses the screen.

- The Broncos are officially in big trouble. After their improbably 6-0 start, they dropped their 4th straight, getting mauled at home by the Chargers. They are now a game out of the division lead and face turmoil, with some of their players accusing each other of quitting or not caring enough, including Brandon Marshall & Knowshon Moreno fighting on the sidelines.

- Losing to Northwestern was a complete embarrassment for Wisconsin on Saturday. They started the day with an outside chance to tie for the Big Ten championship, and went to bed tied for 4th place, and having purple footprints all over their backsides. Their defense couldn’t slow down the Northwestern offense, the Badger offense couldn’t produce points (2 turnovers) in their last three possessions, and WR Isaac Anderson showed off his stone hands for another week. Pitiful. Another trip to the Outback Bowl for the Badgers?

LOVE

- Matthew Stafford gave a glimpse of why he may have been worthy of that top pick in the draft and could potentially help the Lions franchise rise from the ashes. Granted it was against the hapless Browns, but this game amazingly turned into one of the more compelling football games of the entire season, resulting in a 38-37 shootout win for the Lions. Stafford dislocated his non-throwing shoulder on the second-to-last play of the game, but was able to elude the medical staff and get back into the game to throw the game winning touchdown, after a pass interference call and a strange timeout by Eric Mangini. Had Mangini not called timeout, Daunte Culpepper would have had to take the final snap. So it was yet another bad decision by Mangini in a season full of them, and it allowed Stafford to show his grit and make the winning throw. He threw for 5 touchdowns in the game, besting Brady Quinn’s 4 touchdowns. Amazingly, The Browns had only scored 5 offensive TDs all season before this game, and Quinn led them to 4 TDs in this game. Stafford proved he has the potential to lead the franchise in this game, and maybe we need to give Quinn a chance to mature into his position of leading the team. Or maybe his girlfriend from draft night knew something ahead of time, and didn’t stick around.

- The NFL underdogs rose up. With the Raiders beating the Bengals, the Chiefs shocking the Steelers, and the Redskins and Bills barely dropping games against the Cowboys and Jaguars, respectively, the meek of the league had a surprising resurgence. During the first half of the year, the oddsmakers couldn’t make spreads wide enough as these poor teams continued to get blown out every week. But this week there were only 4 of the 15 games that were decided by more than one score. It will be interesting to see if the spreads begin to get a little tighter down the stretch in the coming weeks.

- It’s going to be a great coaching carousel this off-season, in both college and the NFL. The Notre Dame job will be open (even Charlie Weis himself said he won’t be surprised if he’s let go), and there will likely be anywhere from 7-10 openings in the NFL, some in prestigious places like the Cowboys or Redskins and others in less desirable places like Cleveland and Buffalo. First, let’s stop the Urban Meyer to Notre Dame rumors – that is not happening. We’ve covered that in the past. But an interesting opening that might pop up after this weekend? LSU, where Les Miles flubbed a game against Ole Miss that could cost his team and school a BCS berth. Down by 2 points, the Bayou Bengals inexplicably let 17-18 seconds run off the clock before completing a pass with one second remaining at the 6 yard line. Instead of trying to sprint the FG unit on the field, or running a play for a touchdown, they tried to spike the ball. Of course, a spike takes one second and the clock runs out, game over. After the game, Miles was asked who made the call to spike the ball, and he responded that he DIDN’T KNOW!! Blink, blink…..stare…….Uh-oh. Miles has never been Nick Saban, and won a national championship with most of Saban’s players, and something like this could be enough to get him bounced out of town. And it doesn’t even involve whatever is going on in the background of this picture…….not that there’s anything wrong with it.

- Aaron Rodgers erasing all doubt about who the best QB from the 2005 draft. Rodgers dominated the 49ers defense and has produced some great numbers this season, nearly 2800 yards, 19 TDs, and a QB rating of 102.6. While he is still likely a distant 5th in the MVP race behind Favre, Manning, Brees and Brady, he has been tremendous in keeping the Packers in the playoff hunt despite playing behind the leakiest offensive line in the league. And speaking of Favre, he may be playing as well as he has played since 1997, and as much as it pains me, he is right up there in the MVP discussion, and likely the favorite at this point. He has only thrown 3 interceptions all year, easily the least by any QB that has started every game (McNabb & Rodgers have the next fewest with 5).

- Wes Welker continues to light up the stat sheets. It is now time to stop looking at him as an interesting little mighty might and start to mention him with the best receivers in the league. The guy led the league in catches in 2007, was 2nd in 2008, and is the league leader thus far in 2009. After lighting up the Jets for 15 catches for 192 yards, he has 79 catches in 9 games, which is ahead of the pace he was on the past 2 years when he ended with over 110 catches each year. He is Tom Brady’s security blanket and has the ability to stop and start on a dime as if he controls his legs with a joystick.